Alternative Ways of Historical Knowledge Dissemination: Black History on Instagram

Historical knowledge dissemination on social media platforms has become increasingly prevalent in the digital age. However, only few studies focus on the implications of learning historical knowledge from social media platforms, rather than focus on debatable areas of history. This research builds upon two studies in this area of research (Birkner & Donk; 2020, Liu; 2018). This research intervenes in this area of study by focusing on Black history on the social media platform Instagram. This research uncovers how Black history is framed on social media platforms, if and how Instagram users are learning from these Instagram posts, and why social media has become a prevalent tool for historical knowledge dissemination. This is done through a multimodal discourse analysis. This research provides a foundation for further inquiry into this area of study while also highlighting where further research in this area could go.